The International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Niamh Lennox-Chhugani as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 22 March 2021. Niamh has been a strong advocate for integrated care since the early 1990s and has 30 years of experience in health and care as a clinician, manager, academic, and advisor. Her work has spanned the public and not-for-profit sectors as well as management consulting.
In welcoming Niamh, Philip Davies, Chair of IFIC said ‘The IFIC Board undertook an extensive search to identify our next CEO. Niamh stood out among a very strong field as offering a compelling blend of leadership skills and technical knowledge of contemporary issues in integrated care. The COVID-19 pandemic is a further reminder of the need for better coordinated and more collaborative approaches to health and social care. The appointment of a new CEO will further strengthen IFIC’s role in leading the global movement for change in pursuit of that goal.’
Dr. Lennox-Chhugani, commenting on her appointment, added, ‘I am hugely excited about all that taking on this role means. There is no doubt in my mind that this is an energising role in an organisation I admire and one that is focused on a cause about which I care deeply. I look forward to bringing my leadership experience to bear in the values-led movement for change that is IFIC. What lies ahead for IFIC is not without its challenges, but the team and Board are so committed to what IFIC stands for, I see only opportunities ahead.’
The International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) is a not-for-profit educational network whose vision is that people, families, and communities benefit from person-centered integrated care and support to maximise their health, wellbeing, and independence. The goal of the Foundation is to act as the leading voice on and advocate of integrated care through proactive collaboration with its wide range of beneficiaries. By bringing these various perspectives together, IFIC seeks to provide a unique forum for knowledge exchange with the ultimate aim of maximising the health and wellbeing of people and communities while improving the overall effectiveness and sustainability of health and care systems.
About Niamh
Dr Niamh Lennox-Chhugani has 30 years of experience in evidence-based transformation in healthcare internationally as a clinician, academic and consultant. Her experience has included integrated health and education service design and provision for children in the NHS in the early 1990’s, health system policy reform in post-conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina, advising on health system reform in the Russian Federation, scaling up infectious disease programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and implementing new care models in the NHS. She has provided leadership to teams in the public sector, commercial businesses and non-profits. As a subject matter expert on integrated care as part of wider healthcare reform, she has spoken at conferences, on panels, written papers, contributed as part of international teams to health system reviews. Most recently, Niamh led the healthcare practice at Optimity Advisors which included directing several EU-funded health projects. Since late 2019, she worked independently leading evaluations of digital health technology. She has a PhD from Imperial College London in organisation change in healthcare.
She has been an active member of the International Foundation for Integrated Care since 2015. Niamh has shared the International Foundation’s passion for integrated care from the beginning of her career as a clinician in the early 1990’s and all the way through her subsequent career as a leader, academic and advisor. Niamh was appointed as CEO by the IFIC Board in March 2021.